Field Goals

Field Goal %

Rebounds

Assists

Turnovers

Pts off Turnovers

2nd Chance Pts

Pts in the Paint

Fastbreak Pts

Bench Pts

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Thanks in part to
a big afternoon from senior Sweets
Underwood, the UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team was
able to take down visiting Cal State Northridge, 66-55, in the
Thunderdome on Saturday.

Home wins have been a rarity for the Gauchos lately, but
Saturday's victory snapped a two-game skid in the Thunderdome. With
the win, UCSB improves to 12-14 on the year and 8-6 in Big West
Conference action. Cal State Northridge falls to 13-14 overall and
7-8 in league. The win marked the 13th straight over the
Matadors.

A consistent and dominant force for the Gauchos this year,
Underwood put together one of the best games of her career as she
tallied 19 points to go along with a career-high 20 boards. It
marked the 11th double-double of the year for the
senior, who also had three assists and a steal. She made 6-of-14
from the field and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Nicole
Nesbit was second among the Gauchos with 11 points and a
team-leading five assists. Melissa
Zornig chipped in nine points. UCSB was aided greatly by its
bench, which contributed 21 points in the victory.

Kept to fewer than 60 points in their last three games, the
Gauchos put up their second-highest point total of the season
behind their 76 points at Loyola Marymount (Dec. 5, 2012). UCSB
limited the Matadors to just 14 points in the opening half –
the second lowest output by an opponent this year – while
tallying more than 30 points in the first stanza for just the
second time this year.

Senior Angelei
Aguirre opened the scoring with a jumper, spurring an 8-0
Gaucho run that gave UCSB a lead that would never be relinquished.
Midway through the first half, the Gauchos were able keep the
Matador offense on ice as Northridge faced a five-minute scoring
drought. UCSB was able to build its lead to as many as 20 points
with 1:02 to go when Jackie
Luna-Castro calmly hit a pair of free-throws. The Gauchos
maintained the spread, heading into the locker rooms up, 34-14.

Cal State Northridge opened the second half with a 14-8 run to
cut its deficit to 42-31 with 12:22 left to play. The Gauchos were
able to keep the Matadors at bay, and with five minutes to go in
the game, they went on a five-point run in the matter of a minute
to push their lead back out to 18 at 56-38.

Hoping to get back into the game, the Matadors hit three
three-pointers to cut the Gaucho lead to 10 with 2:32 to play. UCSB
was not phased, however, and sunk seven of eight free-throw
attempts in the final 1:51 of the game to close the door on
Northridge with the 66-55 win.

Offensively, the Gauchos benefited from 43.4% shooting
(23-of-53) from the field and 90% shooting (18-of-20) from the
charity stripe. Meanwhile, they limited Northridge to just 37.5%
(21-of-56) from the field and 7-of-22 (31.8%) from the three-point
range. They out-rebounded the Matadors, 38-30, but both teams were
plagued with turnovers, recording 22 apiece.

Seventeen points were scored by Northridge's Haley White, who
came off the bench and made 6-of-11 attempts from the field while
hitting 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc. Violet Alama had 14
points for the Matadors.

"There are just certain teams you match up well with," head
coach Carlene Mitchell said. "Northridge – they do a great
job and they have won some big games – but for whatever
reason, we tend to step-up when it comes time to play them."

UCSB will hit the road next week to face Cal State Fullerton on
Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. and UC Riverside on Saturday, March
2 at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcast live on UCSBgauchos.com and
BigWest.tv. Saturday's game can be heard live in Santa Barbara
on KZSB 1290 AM, the Santa Barbara News-Press radio
station.

The Gauchos' next home game against Long Beach State on March 7
has been moved up an hour and will now begin at 3 pm in the
Thunderdome.